September 16 marked the first anniversary of Mahsa (Jina) Amini and as well as the anniversary of Bloody Friday in the city of Zahedan. Sistan and Baluchestan province has faced weekly internet shutdowns every Friday for a year now.
Since November 2019, Iran has implemented internet shutdowns nearly ten times, each in response to either nationwide or local protests. In previous instances, once the shutdown ended, internet access would return to its prior state. However, this time, the internet has not returned to its former condition; all restrictions and censorship remain intact. Given these observations, Filterwatch concludes that this might be the new norm.
On the day of Amini’s death, no significant internet disruptions were detected in the country by both IODA and Arvancloud Radar. However, that night a near total internet shutdown on mobile data was observed in Shahr-e Ghods, a town near Tehran. This disruption is reported to Filterwatch by some anonymous sources.
Another significant development was that the Iranian government began announcing schedules for internet disruptions. The move came after a period of internet disruptions in the middle of the night and the public not accepting the authorities’ claim of Iranian officials that the disruptions were the result of a maintenance program.
Anniversary of Internet shutdown in Zahedan, following Bloody Friday
IODA data indicates that as the September 30 anniversary of Bloody Friday in Zahedan neared, Sistan and Baluchestan province experienced a recurrence of near-total internet shutdowns.
The primary disruptions to the internet connection occurred during Friday mornings. It is during this time that Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi, a respected Sunni cleric and considered the spiritual leader of Iran’s Sunni Muslim community, delivers speeches at the great Mosque of Zahedan, often criticizing the government.
Disruption of internet in order to update infrastructure
Infrastructure Telecommunication Company (ITC), Iran’s primary provider of internet facilities to Internet Service Providers, announced on September 27 that there would be nationwide internet disruptions in line with a scheduled timetable.
This was announced one day after a major disruption that severely reduced connectivity.
According to this schedule, from September 27 for one week, in following provinces, should experience internet distruption: Golestan, Ardebil, Mazandaran, Gilan, Hormozgan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Fars, Bushehr, Kerman, Khuzestan, Kohkilouyeh and Boyerhahmad and Khorsan Razavi.
On the night of September 26, IODA Data reported that the Internet of Iran was severely disrupted. A technical expert within the country informed Filterwatch that this disruption was due to an update at the Tabriz data centers.
The next day, the ministry of telecommunications of Iran declared that the infrastructure update took place at midnight, suggesting that no user would have been affected by it.
On September 10, another disruption occurred which could be observed in Cloudflare radar , IODA data and ArvanCloud radar (In IranHost, MCI and Afranet data centers). According to Mohammad Mozafary, the head of technical department of Iran server, this disruption was caused by a scheduled modification of the electrical system..
Sonita Sarabpour, a tech journalist in Iran tweeted that, according to an announcement by the Infrastructure Telecommunication Company (TIC), there would be a series of renovations to the internet’s infrastructure. However, FilterWatch cannot independently verify these claims.
